Good Results For New Vaccine Against Horse Strangles Disease

Tests show good results for a new vaccine against horse strangles disease. In time this may also lead to new vaccines against human diseases.

Share:

Total shares:

FULL STORY

Horse suffering from strangles.

Credit: Animal Health Trust

Horse suffering from strangles.

Credit: Animal Health Trust

A research group at the Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden has – in collaboration with J-I Flock’s research group at the Karolinska Institutet medical university in Stockholm, the pharmacological company Intervacc AB, Stockholm and the Animal Health Trust in the UK – after many years of research made a breakthrough in finding a vaccine against the horse disease strangles.

Strangles is a most contagious disease caused by the bacteria Streptococcus equi. The disease results in high fever and characteristically swollen lymphoid glands in the neck region generating large boils that often burst. Most contaminated horses recover and become immune against the disease, but in worst cases strangles can be fatal. A stable where strangles has been discovered must be put in quarantine causing economical losses and practical problems. The disease is spread worldwide; in Sweden some 100 cases are reported annually, in the UK circa 1,000 cases per year are reported.

Today there exists no safe and efficient vaccine against strangles, and previous vaccines are based on live bacteria, which is hazardous and may cause severe side effects. The new vaccine is based on pure proteins produced by recombinant DNA technology. The vaccine consists of seven different Streptococcus proteins, and the results from injecting horses have been most positive so far, i.e. the vaccine is highly protective and has shown no side effects.

The goal is to have the new strangles vaccine commercially available in a near future. The research results also imply a possibility to develop protein-based vaccines against other Streptococcus infections in animals as well as humans, e.g. tonsillitis.

The Swedish Research Council. "Good Results For New Vaccine Against Horse Strangles Disease." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 October 2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006135239.htm>.

The Swedish Research Council. (2009, October 8). Good Results For New Vaccine Against Horse Strangles Disease. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 2, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006135239.htm

The Swedish Research Council. "Good Results For New Vaccine Against Horse Strangles Disease." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006135239.htm (accessed August 2, 2015).

July 31, 2015  Resettlement projects in the Amazon are driving severe tropical deforestation, according to new research. Widely hailed as a socially responsible and 'innocuous' strategy of land redistribution, ... read more

July 29, 2015  Viewing aquarium displays led to noticeable reductions in blood pressure and heart rate, a research team found in the first study of its kind. They also noted that higher numbers of fish helped to ... read more

July 31, 2015  A new study examines how consuming the concentrated extract of thylakoids found in spinach can reduce hunger and cravings. Thylakoids encourage the release of satiety hormones, which is very ... read more

July 30, 2015  The behavior of fruit flies, which are commonly used in laboratory experiments, is altered by electric fields, new research shows. The research indicates that the wings of the insects are disturbed ... read more

July 31, 2015  Starvation early in life can alter an organism for generations to come, according to a new study in nematodes. The epigenetic effects are a 'bet-hedging strategy.' Famine survivors are smaller and ... read more

July 31, 2015  The humble butterfly could hold the key to unlocking new techniques to make solar energy cheaper and more efficient, pioneering new research has shown. By mimicking the v-shaped posture adopted by ... read more

May 7, 2014  Two states have confirmed cases of equine herpes virus. An equine specialist explains the disease and describes the possible symptoms. EHV-1 is a respiratory disease that is spread through the air, ... read more

Feb. 17, 2012  American Quarter Horses are renowned for their speed, agility, and calm disposition. Consequently over four million Quarter Horses are used as working horses on ranches, as show horses or at rodeos. ... read more

July 14, 2011  Two strains of Streptococcus bacteria that have evolved to cause potentially fatal infections in either horses or humans use the same box of tricks to cause disease. Exploiting their genetic ... read more